Dedicated to every Norwich City
Player since 1980

Robert
Taylor

Norwich
Career:

1989-1991

Current
Club:

Swaffham (Eastern Counties League) (Manager)

Date
of Birth:

30/04/1971(Norwich)

Nationality:

English

Biography

A Norwich born lad, Robert Taylor joined his hometown side as
a youngster signing professional terms after he was spotted playing
for Watton aged 16. A regular in the Reserves, he made 29 appearances
for the second string in 1989/90 scoring 11 goals. He spent the
summer of 1990 with Norwegian side Mjolner to gain further experience.
However upon returning, he could not break into the Norwich first
team and was released without making a single first-team appearance.

A move to Birmingham City was similarly unsuccessful and he failed
to add to the three league appearances that he gained whilst on
loan to Leyton Orient from Norwich. He must have impressed Orient's
management team as they signed him from Birmingham. 73 league
appearances for Leyton Orient resulted in 20 goals and a transfer
across London to Brentford.

Successful partnerships at Griffin Park with Nicky Forster, Marcus
Bent and Carl Asaba brought Robert 43 league goals in 133 appearances
by the end of the 1996/97 season. According to Yahoo's Teamtalk service, Robert was
supposedly the £600,000 target for Sheffield United with
Port Vale and Gillingham also showing an interest. A return to
Carrow Road was also been suggested with new Norwich manager Bruce
Rioch supposedly impressed with Taylor's abilities. Rioch though
denied this. West Bromwich Albion also entered the hunt for the
talented striker. However they were all too late as Gillingham
paid £500000 for Robert to replace Ade
Akinbiyi in August 1998. However Robert found it hard to settle
at Gillingham and the goals were not forthcoming. Brentford Chairman/Manager
Ron Noades even suggested a return to West London. However Robert
scored twice on Saturday 10th October for Gillingham against Wycombe
and quietened the "boo boys".

On Saturday 27th March, Robert scored 5 goals for Gillingham at
Burnley (who played Neil Moore) This took
Robert's tally for the season to 12 league goals. Not only does
this equal the all-time goalscoring record for Division Two (including
the old Division Three) but is the only occurrence when all five
were scored away from home. Gillingham reached the Division Two
play-off final at Wembley against Manchester City. Although Taylor
scored Gillingham's second to go two nil up with only injury time
remaining, Man City managed to equalise and then go through in
the penalty shoot-out
.
In October 1999, Robert was the subject of a £400,000 transfer
bid from Portsmouth. This was rejected with Gillingham rejecting
this bid as unrealistic for a player who cost them £500,000. Robert
showed he was worth more than his original transfer fee when he
scored a hat-trick against Wrexham on 9th October making it nine
goals in eight games even though he was not even 100% fit. This
was followed up by rumours linking Robert with a move to Joe
Royle's Manchester City. Royle had been impressed with Robert's
form in the play-off final between Gillingham and Manchester City
the previous May. According to Sky Sports, Royle offered Gareth
Taylor in exchange for his namesake whilst other sources quoted
a £1million bid. However City faced competition from Charlton
according to Sport First (24th October 1999) who claim
the Addicks have made a bid of £1.2million plus young striker
Kevin Lisbie who had already spent time on loan at the Priestfield
Stadium.

Robert continued scoring freely throughout November and Manchester
City were still rumoured to be interested. However Robert was
rumoured, by Teamtalk to
be heading to Scotland to discuss a multi-million pound deal with
Hearts on 26th November 1999. The fear of losing out on this talented
striker inspired Man City to up their bid and Robert was signed,
pending agreement on personal terms, for £1.5million on 26th November
1999.

Following their promotion to the Premiership in 2000, City had
concerns about whether Robert was of Premiership quality, especially
his pace. Replacing him with Paulo Wanchope and George Weah, he
was made available and joined Wolves on 15th August on a four
year contract despite interest and a equal bid of £1.5million
from his former Gillingham manager Tony Pulis, now at Portsmouth.

On February 11th 2001, Sport First suggested that Robert
might be on his way back to Gillingham in a part-exchange for
Gills' hotshot Carl Asaba. Sport First reported on 29th
April 2001 that Robert was certain to leave Wolves in the summer
as Paul Jones seeks to build the underachieving club in his own
style. Robert returned to west London in August 2001 joining QPR
on loan on the 29th August initially for one month. On his return,
he was loaned out again - this time rejoining Gillingham for a
three month period. He made his second debut for the Gills as
a second half substitute in the 2-0 home defeat to Norwich on
13th October 2001. Robert returned to Wolves in January 2002 with
the two sides unable to come to agreement over his value especially
as he failed to score in his 11 loan appearances for the Gills.
A third loan spell came on 16th January 2002 with Robert joining
Grimsby Town. He returned to Wolves only for them to cancel his
contract at the end of March 2002. Robert then rejoined the Mariners
on a non-contract basis.

In July 2002, it was reported that Robert was training with financially
plagued Bradford City in a bid to win himself a contract. In August
2002, Robert rejoined Grimsby on a short-term contract basis to
cover injuries to their forwards especially Steve Livingstone.
It appears though that Grimsby didn't really need him as by mid-September,
he was trialling with Colchester United.

On March 3rd 2003, Robert signed for Scunthorpe on non-contract
terms. However they decided not to renew this past the end of
the 2002/03 season leaving Robert looking for another home. In
July 2003, Robert trained with Third Division Cheltenham hoping
to win a contract with the Gloucestershire side although he will
face competition from fellow triallists Peter Beadle (ex-Bristol
City) and Bob Taylor (ex-WBA). The potential for confusion between
the two Taylors is considerable. Our Robert then surfaced at Chester
City and played as a triallist in the 2-0 home defeat to FC Nordsjaelland
on 19th July 2003. He then played in the 1-0 victory at Cammell
Lairds but pulled his hamstring in that match. Robert then decided
that he had enough of injuries and retired from the professional
game.

Robert's career came full circle as he returned to Norwich to
manage Watton United, the team where he was first spotted by the
Canaries. He announced that he considers it a disgrace that Watton
are playing in Division One of the Anglian Combination and that
he expected promotion to the Premier Division in his first season
followed by a return to their "rightful place" in the
Ridgeons League. Watton indeed finished in top place in the Anglican
Combination Premier Division but Taylor left them to take up the
post of Reserve Team manager at Kings Lynn. When Darren
Bloodworth and Kevin Boon quit Lynn in September 2004, Robert
was appointed caretaker first team manager. This was made permanent
on Thursday 7th October 2004 despite competition from ex-Cambridge
boss Tommy Taylor, former Nottingham Forest star Lee Glover, Norwich
favourite Rob Newman and if you believe the media, both Chris
Waddle and Mark Wright.

After a run of seven games without victory, Robert was replaced
by former Cambridge manager and namesake Tommy Taylor on 28th
October 2004. Robert ruled out any future involvement with the
Linnets and is disappointed at the club's decision not to give
him an extended run in charge to turn the club's fortunes around.
"I am angry, to be honest," he said. "I
spoke with the chairman straight after the Banbury game and told
him I felt changes needed to be made on the playing side. On Sunday
evening I was informed they wanted to go outside the club for
a permanent appointment. That was the first I knew - I was gobsmacked.
They said I was not experienced enough but I was never given a
chance to do it my way, with my own players.If I had been told
from day one 'we intend to bring in another guy in a
month or two' then I would have known where I stood. For the first
couple of weeks I had to manage the reserves and the first team,
organise training, look at players and even take flak when we
lost at Merthyr - I worked my tail off and that was all for the
good of the club. They asked me 'what do I want to do now?' but
there were no discussions about a new role and if I was offered
one I would turn it down. They never even thanked me for doing
the caretaker duties."

Robert then signed for Ridgeons League side Gorleston but found
playing regularly difficult so he turned out for Holt in the Anglian
Combination. At the end of December 2004, he was appointed as
the new manager of Ridgeons League side Dereham Town in succession
to Simon Barnes, who stepped down from the post just before Christmas.
Although enjoying his time at Dereham, Robert expressed in November
2005 that he had taken his Level 2 coaching award and was hoping
to get his UEFA B award so he could coach at a professional club.
He also has signed up with the College of West Anglia at Kings
Lynn as their coach.

Despite Dereham twice winning the Norfolk Senior Cup and becoming
established as a leading Ridgeons League Premier Division club,
Taylor was sacked in early February 2008. The club's committee
lost confidence in Taylor and felt some players were not behind
him, and he was dismissed on Monday 4th February by 10 votes to
one. The news came two days after Dereham lost 4-3 to Sheringham
in the Norfok Senior Cup semi-finals - but the club insisted the
shock defeat by the Anglian Combination club was not the reason
for Taylor's sacking. Taylor said he was absolutely gutted
at the news and believes he has been pushed out of the club
for no reason whatsoever. Former Norwich City youth player
Adam Gusterson has been appointed
Dereham's manager until the end of the season

On 21st April 2008, Robert was appointed as manager of fellow
Ridgeons League side Diss Town following the resignation of Paul
Tong. Taylor said "Diss Town are a big club, we just
have to get six points on the board and hope other results go
our way [speaking of Diss' chance of promotion from Ridgeons League
Division One when he took charge] "If we're in the First
Division next year we'll just have to rebuild and try again. It
feels like I've been thrown in at the deep end a little bit, but
I've got to accept that and get on with it. It's a shame the way
things have panned out at the club with Paul going, I find myself
in a bit of a bad situation because I get on with Paul."

Taylor left Diss in October 2012. In 2013, he was named the new
manager of Mundford of the Anglian Combination

He joined Norwich City's Community Sport Foundation as Football
Engagement Co-ordinator in late 2014.

In May 2016, he was appointed manager of Thurlow Nunn Eastern Counties League side Swaffham Town.